Pictorial history of construction

[hewhoisatpeace]

Here are the first four, a project started June 2009

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

the next four, taken in July 2009

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

And the last three from late July last year.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

These three are in August

 

[Olee]

Hope you don't come home after drinking a bit and miss the sidewalk.... lol

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

Now this group is from October, as my pond idea expanded a little.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

By Halloween, it had taken on a life of it's own, and my planning was becoming more extensive and expensive. Last summer's idea of a kidney shaped 7' X 10' pool with a submersible pump was gone, and I was thinking about skimmers and bottom drains.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

These are the last 3 Halloween shots. You can see the bottom drain channel in the far side of the big pool. Big pool has worked out to be 6' deep at the deepest area, with the bottom sloping to the bottom drain.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

Here are a few from mid November. Witness my solution to not having enough yard to accomodate my dreams, just a few bricks and blocks and we're in business. You can see the trenches beginning to lay some 4" PVC in the narrow space between the pond and house. No planning done, yet, it just kind of grew on the fly, with designs in my head. Still didn't have a clue about how to edge it, but I was realizing I needed a big liner. Didn't know what pump, either, just knew external and around 3000 GPH to cycle my calculated estimate of 2500-3000 gallons.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

these three are from a good bit later, March of this year. After a really cold winter for our area, I was ready to get going. Got a 20' X 40' 40 mil liner. Darned thing weighed over 300 pounds! I rolled it around until I could unroll it. Took me a couple hours to get it right, without tearing up my beginning of a landscaping. Notice the HUGE pile of rocks collected from a dirt road in the mountains over 6 months.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

These 5 are from early April. I got water! 3000 gallons was the magic number, plus the about 75 gallons in the filter. Based my filter on the Skippy design, and added some venturis to keep the aerobic bacteria happier. Everything works though, so far, so good. For edging, I installed the oly edging, then realized that my water level would be too low, so I turned the installed edge into a shelf, and used scraps of the oly edging, and concrete blocks to do a second tier a little larger. Not planning has it's problems, sometimes, but it gave me a great marginal area that I would not have had otherwise.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

Mid April. Starting to get it rocked in and backfilled. Still have to finish the brickwork on the stream, but some landscaping has been started. Got my marginal shelf filled with pea gravel and the middle pool bog filter area filled with a few inches of cat litter, then 6-8" lava rock, later I will top with sand. Built a rain barrel from a 32 gallon trash can and a spigot and a dremel tool, Lowe's wanted over a hundred bucks for one (my trash can was 9.99 at Wal Mart, can of fusion paint six something)

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

it is early May here. Getting a lot closer now, got my "standing stones" surrounding everything (they make great hose guides, and look, um, weird) Good rainstorm, nice cloudy water. Edge is still too even, gotta break that up more naturally somehow...

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

Mid May here. Getting a few water plants, rocking in the stream, adjusting waterfalls endlessly. I've got more pics of this time, though, coming...

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

More of the same. Got some low voltage lighting going in, and I've covered any exposed liner with burlap. I'll spread some moss mixture on the burlap to simulate rock. Moss mix: big container plain yogurt, 1/2 gallon buttermilk, lots of moss, electric mixer on high, old paintbrush. Good kid project. My hibiscus and pickerel weed are doing well in there.